Congress boot



UNITE@ STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY S. HOLMES, OF LYNN, MASSACHUSETTS.

CONGRESS BOOT..

Specification of Letters Patent No. 28,754, dated June 19, 1860.

T o all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY S. HOLMES, of Lynn, inthe county of Essex andState of Massachusetts, have invented a certain new and usefulImprovement in the Manufacture of Congress Gaiters; and I do herebydeclare that the following is a full, clear, and exact descriptionthereof, reference being had to It-he accompanying drawing, making partof this speciication.

My .invention relates to that class of gaiters commonly called Congressgaiters or boots, that is to say, boots or gaiters provided with elasticgores of shirred cloth. In the manufacture of these, it has been thepractice of the operatives in sewing the gores yto the gaiter tops andlinings to baste one side of the gore to the corresponding 'part of thegaiter top, first turning the edge of the gaiter top inward, vand thento stitch the two together. And in like manner the other side of thegore to the corresponding part of the Ygaiter top. This done the gore onthe other side of the gaiter is secured in the same manner. The goresbeing thus united to the gaiter top, the lining has then to be united tothe gaiter top and to the gores; a piece of suitable size and shapehaving been cutout of it on either side to correspond with the size andshape ofthe gores. This they effect by turning in the edges of thelining and hemming it down to t-he gores; the upper edges of the liningbeing then secured to the gaiter top by stitching a piece of bindingribbon to the outside of the gaiter top and turning itover the edge ofthe gaiter top and lining and hemniing it down upon the latter, fromwhich it will be apparent that the present mode of securing the gores tothe gaiter top and lining is at once costly, laborious, and exceedinglytroublesome, and at the same time requires the employment of experiencedand skilful hands; for the reason, that, inasmuch as the gores aresecured to the gaiter top and.

to the linings by two separate and distinct seams, there must ofnecessity be an unequal tension or strain upon the gores from the twoseams as it is almost impossible so to sew it, as that the two shalldraw from the same points and in the same lines; and any departure fromsuch points and lines must necessarily cause an unequal tension betweenthem, and therefore unequal wear and unequal it accompanied bypuckerings in the gores and breakage in the strands of the shirred orelastic cloth, examples of which may be found in almost every boot ofthis kind that has been worn a few times; and which, in a great measure,has been the cause of their not being more generallyused, as the goresfrom this cause are almost always bursting away either from the gaitertops-or from the lining.

The object of my invention is to remedy these defects, and at the sametime, lto produce a neater, stronger and better boot, at much less cost,because of the great saving of time and labor in its production, bydispensing with the various manipulations just described. And itconsists in uniting thegores to the gaiter top and vlining by a singleseam common to all in a manner `to be hereafter described, by means ofwhich the tension may either be made equal on the gaiter topand lining,or it may be a regular uneven tension on the two, that is -to say, agreater but regular and uniform strain may be thrown on the gaiter top`than on the lining -and vice versa, as maybe required or deemedadvisable.

To'euable others skilled in the art to make and use my improvement, Iwill now proceed to describe it in detail, here premising that -in thefollowing description the employment of a sewing machine is presupposed,as they are now generally used in the manufacture of Ygaiters.

In the accompanying drawing Figure l, represents a plan of one half ofthe heel part of the gaiter top as cut out preparatory to being securedto the gore; and also the corresponding part of the lining. Fig. 2, aplan of a half of the front part of the gaiter top and the correspondinglining. Fig. 3, a plan of the gore. Fig. 4c, represents an end view ofthe edges of the half of the heel part of the gaiter' top, lining andgore, properly arranged and showing in red lines the seam which unitesthem together. Fig. 5, a plan of the same, the top and lining beingturned over, preparatory to the other edge of the gore being secured tothe corresponding half of the front part of the gaiter top and lining.Fig. 6, represents an edge view of the gore, front half of the gaitertop and lining as arranged preparatory to being sewed together. Fig. 7,represents a plan of one half of the gaiter, ready to be secured to theother half so as to form the complete gaiter top. Fig. 8, represents asection taken through the line 0c, of Fig. 7.

Fig. 9, a view of the gaiter top manufactured on my improved plan andlined at the bottom with a leather strip.

The cloth or other suitable material for the gaiter top, having beenproperly cut out into pieces of the requisite size and shape preparatoryto being fashioned into gaiters, and also the corresponding pieces ofthe lining (as shown in Figs. l and 2): A gore (a) turned with its leftside outward is placed over the outer side of one of the top pieces, forinstance a half of the heel part (b) and after the edge of the gore hasbeen properly adjusted over the corres onding edge of the top piece, thelining Zn)Y which is also turned with its right side inward, is placedover the gore (a) and top piece (b), and the three passed together underthe needle of a sewing machine, so as to be united by a seam common toall, as shown in Fig. 4, which done, the top piece (Z2) and its lining(b) are turned over, so as to present the right side outward, as shownin Fig. 5, whereby the seam which unites them to the gore becomesinclosed and in a measure hidden. To the other edge of the gore (a) isthen secured in a similar manner the corresponding front half (c) of thegaiter top and its lining (0') whereupon the top (c) and lining (0') areturned over with the right side outward, thereby inclosing the seamwhich unites them to the gore. One half of the gaiter top being thuscompleted, as shown in Fig. 5, a corresponding gore is secured in likemanner to the two parts of the other half, that is to say, the otherhalf (front and heel) of the gaiter top and lining: which when completedthe two halves are sewed together in the usual way in front and rear:the lining is then turned over and the upper edge of the front and rearpart of the lining and top sewed together in the same manner, a tugfront and rear having previously been interposed between them; thusfinishing the gaiter top ready to be soled.77 The principal differencein the appearance of gaiters manufactured on this plan is, that theseams which unite the gores to the body of gaiters are not visible-theybeing inclosed between the top and lining; while in all other Congressgaiters there is a stitching on the outer side of the gaiter top aroundthe gores.

From the foregoing description of my improved plan of securing the goreto the gaiter top and lining it will be readily perceived that there isa great saving of time, labor and trouble, as compared with the old andWell known methods of securing the gores. Moreover it dispenses withvarious and tedious manipulations and also with skilled labor, as it canbe done readily by new hands; and at the same time presents thisadvantage, that, the whole sewing may be effected solely by a machine,there being no hemming or other finishing requisite to be executed byhandwhich heretofore has greatly enhanced the cost of manufacturingCongress gaiters.

Having thus described my improvement what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is- Securing the edges of the gores to thegaiter top and lining by a seam common to all, in the manner and for thepurposes substantially as herein set forth.

In testimony whereof, I hereunto set my hand to this specification.

HENRY S. HOLMES.

itnesses ISAAC NEWHULL, I. HUNNAY.

